Great Start, Poor Finish in Spurs FA Cup Replay!

The Clarets were knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round replay against Spurs at White Hart Lane on Wednesday night after going down 4-2 following the 1-1 draw at Turf Moor the previous week. Burnley set off in style and were 2-0 up within seven minutes thanks to goals from Marvin Sordell (his first for the Clarets) and a deflected free kick from Ross Wallace but after that the hosts came back strongly helped by a less than impressive performance by Burnley in defence. On the stroke of half-time after pulling a goal back Spurs equalised and in the second half another two goals by the hosts within the first seven minutes ensured that Burnley`s FA Cup campaign was over at the first hurdle. It will now be Spurs not Burnley that entertain Leicester City at home in the fourth round.

The positives you can take from the game were that both Michael Duff returning from a calf injury and Sam Vokes making his first start since March played the full 90 minutes. Sordell too would have been happy to finally get a goal and that could now spur him on with renewed confidence. In the end though it was a disappointing result considering the superb start but at least Burnley can now focus on Premier League survival without any cup distractions and the potential for further injuries and suspensions.

Team Sheet

Spurs may well have put out a weakened side making seven changes altogether and resting both high-profile goal scorers, Kane and Chadli who dropped to the bench but Sean Dyche too wrung the changes. There were five changes to the side that started against QPR in the league game last Saturday. Both Danny Ings and Ashley Barnes were named on the bench with Dyche giving Marvin Sordell and Sam Vokes a chance to shine up front. Boyd also dropped to the bench with Kightly and Wallace taking up position out on the flanks with Scott Arfield taking up a central midfield role partnering David Jones. Dean Marney was on the bench. The line-up then was as follows:

South Yorkshire referee Craig Pawson got the game underway and Burnley set off in style rocking Spurs within three minutes and taking the lead. Sordell was put through by Trippier and the striker exposed the hosts` sluggish defence before letting rip with a volley that flew past a stunned Michel Vorm into the back of the net to put the Clarets 1-0 up. The home fans were silenced in disbelief when Burnley doubled their lead just four minutes later. A foul on Trippier 30 yards from goal allowed Wallace to try his luck from the free-kick. The ball took a wicked deflection but it finished up in the back of the net to give the Clarets an incredible 2-0 lead with only seven minutes played! Spurs though came storming back and by the tenth minute the hosts had reduced the deficit to 1-2. A cross from the impressive Townsend allowed Soldado to flick the ball onto Paulinho who chested the ball down before firing home from close range. It was a frantic start and the game was turning into a thriller for the neutral but things then calmed down a bit with both defences finally getting a grip. Burnley though were now struggling to create anything meaningful and they had to wait until the half-hour mark before another chance came their way when Wallace in a more central position unleashed a shot from distance which though was off-target. In the 45th minute Spurs fans could not believe how Paulinho failed to score following a glaring miss after hitting the crossbar at point-blank range. It was a defensive blunder by Burnley initially after Arfield lost the ball to the Brazilian halfway in the hosts` half. The break exposed Burnley`s defence but the glaring miss didn`t give Clarets Burnley fans respite for long. Capoue found it all too easy to latch onto a loose ball on the edge of the box following a Ben Davies cross before giving Heaton no chance with a low drive to ensure the score was level at half-time.

Within seven minutes from the re-start Spurs did to Burnley what the visitors had done to them in the first half. By the 52nd minute, they were leading 4-2 following two goals and it was effectively game over for the Clarets. First Chiriches headed home at the far post from a debatable corner in the 49th minute. Danny Rose then thumped home a cross for the fourth with the Clarets still reeling from the hosts` third. Burnley tried their best to make a game of it but it would always be a uphill battle now and this time there would be no comeback. An unhappy Sordell raged at the referee in the 65th minute after believing he had been tripped by last man Kaboul after his pace had got the better of the Spurs defender. Pawson though was having none of it and waved away the appeal for a penalty. In the end it was a comfortable victory for Spurs and a disappointing night for the Clarets after such a promising start.

Star Player

Marvin Sordell impressed especially in the first half and it would have been a great tonic for him to open his Burnley account with his first goal for the club. He faded away badly though in the second-half and would probably rate only 5-6/10. The defence too should have done better and made fewer mistakes despite Michael Duff back in the centre and named captain after being sidelined for the last ten games with a calf injury and deputising for Jason Shackell who was also suffering from a calf injury.

The two brightest players were probably Kightly and Wallace with Kightly slightly impressing the more. Kightly gets our 'Star Player` award (7/10 ish!!). I will put a photo of Sordell up though, he deserves some credit

Dyche Deliberation

'We came here to win but it was a game of mistakes from us. We've learnt well over the season but tonight we made too many mistakes.

'There were a number of things that didn't go our way but we can't defend like that at key moments. Eventually if you keep making poor decisions, you get hurt.'

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Comments

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Good to get that one off our backs. Looked like a bit of indecision and even poor decisions made occasionally during this game, perhaps due to the varied personnel. Rather have this game as a cup game than in the apL. I don't think Dyche was much amused by some of the antics on the night, so a truly good learning lesson for some, I suspect.